Instead Sterling was substituted two minutes later without a handshake from boss Pep Guardiola and with eight minutes left Burnley equalised through Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

Game over. Two points lost. And TV coverage which will haunt Sterling for the rest of his life.

Dyche can say that again after being winless in eight league matches going into the game against City.

He desperately needed to stop the rot – and thanks to Sterling he did.

It looked like Dyche and Burnley were heading for a third successive defeat against the Premier League leaders this season – they were knocked out of the FA Cup by City, too – when Danilo struck in the 22nd minute.

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De Bruyne rolled a short corner to Bernardo Silva who in turn slipped the ball to the Brazilian and he curled a clever shot into the top corner to give keeper Nick Pope no chance from 25 yards.

City were in total control with passing movements which left Burnley chasing shadows. No wonder Dyche rushed from the dugout to bark out a heartfelt order: “Make a tackle.”

Easier said than done with City but Burnley gave warning of what was to come when Ben Mee sprung the offside trap to hammer in a shot which Ederson saved brilliantly. Then Mee met Gudmundsson’s corner and powered a header wide of the upright when he should have scored.

City began the second half the way they had left the first – in control and looking good for another three-point haul.

GETTY

Raheem Sterling missed an open-goal

Sergio Aguero, fed by Sterling, saw his shot deflect off substitute Matt Lowton and then nightmare-man Sterling blazed over to leave his City boss furious in his technical area.

You still fancied City, though, to kill the game off until The Clarets found a new lease of life courtesy of being let off the hook by Sterling.

And in the 82nd minute the inevitable happened to punish City for not finishing Burnley off.

Lowton delivered a long ball from just a yard away from Dyche, standing by the touchline, and Gudmundsson never took his eye off it as he thumped the ball past a startled Ederson.